January 2011

January 31, 2011

The days of turning left at a signal with a solid green light may be numbered. Federal officials are urging cities to replace traffic signals at intersections where a left turn is allowed after yielding to oncoming traffic. Instead of using a green ball-shaped signal, government officials want to use a flashing yellow arrow.

A worst-case scenario is developing for traffic during Super Bowl week. Wet, wintry weather and frigid temperatures are expected beginning late Monday or early Tuesday, and possibly hanging around through Friday. A moment of truth is arriving for Super Bowl planners who promised that they'd be ready for a catastrophic ice event, and would be able to keep the major roads open between Arlington, Fort Worth and Dallas.

"The situation is fluid right now, but that's OK, because we're flexible," said Texas Department of Transportation spokesman Val Lopez. The agency is calling in dozens of employees from other parts of the state to come help out with anti-icing and de-icing efforts on North Texas roads. These employees were already trained last month on where to use the anti-icing equipment. Up to 150 employees and 70 pieces of equipment from around the state could be called in to reinforce what's already available in North Texas, Lopez said.

The emphasis will be on roads that have been designated priority corridors for the Super Bowl and related events. Priority roads include: I-30 in Dallas and Tarrant counties, Texas 360, Texas 180 (Division Street) and Farm Road 157 (Collins Street) in Arlington; and Texas 121/183 (Airport Freeway) from downtown Fort Worth to Dallas/Fort Worth Airport.

More than 30 truckloads of anti-icing and deicing material -- and maybe many more -- will be strategically placed on these roads, probably beginning tonight or early tomorrow.

The timing will be tricky, Lopez said, because trying to pretreat highways to prevent icing is a waste of resources if conducted in a driving rain. The de-icing material is a liquid, and if you try to apply it in a rainstorm the material just washes into the gutter. The key is to wait until the rain turns to sleet, and then aggressively pre-treat the highways with anti-icing material before the sleet hardens into a mass. Some amount of icing is inevitable, though, and for those areas the agency uses a solid, sandy material.

What's the big deal about a little wintry weather, you may ask? Well, the Super Bowl is expected to bring in about a quarter million visitors this week, many of whom are getting their first look at the Metroplex. Leaders in the region want to be in the rotation for future Super Bowls, so they want to prove to the world that they can handle icy roads and such. In 2000, an ice storm in Atlanta ruined many Super Bowl festivities, and the big game hasn't been back there since.

The North Central Texas Council of Governments is holding a press briefing at 4 p.m. today in Arlington to discuss preparations for wintry weather. An update to this story likely will follow that event.

Simmons is a former district engineer for the Fort Worth area. He presided over the revamping of the I-30/I-35W mixmaster in Fort Worth, and the Loop 820/Texas 121/183 Northeast Interchange in Northeast Tarrant County.

Saenz rose through the agency's leadership ranks after his swift handling of the 2001 Queen Isabella Causeway collapse in South Padre Island. He was named executive director in 2007, but by then the agency was being widely criticized for promoting the controversial Trans Texas Corridor, and for miscalculating the funds available for construction in the state by $1 billion.

Both men notified the agency of their plans to retire Aug 31, spokeswoman Karen Amacker said.

"TxDot will continue to evolve and I recognize a need to clear a path for the next person fortunate enough to occupy the position of executive director," Saenz wrote to Deirdre Delisi, chairwoman of the Texas Transportation Commission, in a letter dated Monday. Saenz pledged to continue working to increase transportation funding during the ongoing legislative session, and to help with the transition of a new leadership style as recommended by the agency's restructure council.

"Throughout the course of his career, Amadeo has earned a reputation as a leader and coalition builder, and earned the respect and trust of his peers across the country, our partners here in Texas, and most importantly, his employees," Delisi said in a statement. "Amadeo has served his state with honor and integrity. TxDoT is a better agency today thanks to his leadership."

The departure of Saenz and Simmons could make it easier for transportation advocates to argue that more funding is needed to build highways, invest in high-speed rail and take other steps to ensure Texas keeps up with its seemingly recession-proof growth.

A key recommendation in the restructure council's report is that the executive leadership come from the outside of the transportation department, a break from the agency's tradition of promoting from within. However, Saenz and Simmons each make less than $200,000 a year, and advocates for change have argued that someone from the private sector would command a much higher salary. The legislature would need to approve any such salary boost.

The transportation department oversees about $6 billion to $8 billion worth of work each year, backed primarily by state and federal gasoline taxes, other appropriations by Congress and state vehicle registration fees.

The Fort Worth Transportation will debut eight 80-passenger, articulated buses during the Feb. 6 Super Bowl, a T official confirmed Wednesday. The T bought the eight futuristic buses with $6.4 million in federal Recovery Act funding.

These buses, which hold about triple the passengers of most of the T's fleet, will become part of the T's new bus rapid transit lines on East Lancaster Avenue in east Fort Worth later this year. Bus rapid transit is kind of a hybrid between bus and light rail. The buses have lots of standing room, and give passengers the feel of a light rail car.

T drivers have been training on the buses for several weeks, and T officials decided they were ready to debut the buses during the Super Bowl. They'll be used to ferry Super Bowl attendees from the CentrePort Station of the Trinity Railway Express to Arlington's Cowboys Stadium, which is about seven miles south of the TRE rail line.

I saw the articulated buses at the T's lot near 1600 E. Lancaster Avenue this morning, and took a quick picture with my mobile phone.

January 24, 2011

ARLINGTON – Want a piece of Super Bowl memorabilia but can’t afford to go to the game? A $30 transit pass is now for sale, and it features a sharp – dare we say, collectible – rendition of the Super Bowl XLV logo. The bearer gets unlimited train and bus rides throughout Dallas-Fort Worth Feb. 3-6.

“We have over 240 events, and the rail will get you to 75 percent of them,” said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

But organizers predict many people will buy transit passes as a souvenir. The first 5,000 are for sale through the Super Bowl Host Committee’s official ticket provider. But more could be printed closer to game time, Morris said, and sold at transit hubs such as Fort Worth’s Intermodal Transportation Center at 1001 Jones St.

All the region’s public transit providers will accept the pass, including the Trinity Railway Express, Fort Worth Transporatation Authority, Dallas Area Rapid Transit and Denton County Transportation Authority.

Want one? Visit SBXLV.ClickandPark.com or call 214-269-2401. Passes can be shipped by FedEx or picked up at Quik Trip Park in Grand Prairie.

January 19, 2011

Your GPS may do more harm than good getting you to the Super Bowl -- and organizers suggest turning it off.

Most navigational devices won't have the latest information on which roads will be barricaded, reversed or otherwise tweaked for the Feb. 6 event. Parking spots have been pre-sold, and many lots are closed because of extra Super Bowl security. So, organizers say, the best plan is to turn off the gadgetry and follow official driving directions that are distributed at the time tickets are purchased.

An exception is OnStar, which has worked out a deal with the Super Bowl Host Committee to receive specific information on special routes to Super Bowl events.

January 14, 2011

The Chinese judicial system wants a do-over. A Chinese man was sentenced to life in prison for evading $560,000 worth of tolls, by using fake military plates on his gravel truck. But after an international uproar, officials now say the man will be retried.

January 10, 2011

Avoid Interstate 35W north of downtown Fort Worth during the midday Tuesday. Various lanes in both directions will be closed 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. from Pharr Street to Western Center Boulevard -- weather permitting. Texas Department of Transportation crews plan to fill numerous potholes that have formed in that area during recent freezing weather.

The pothole crews will move gradually up and down the corridor, closing lanes as necessary. Motorists are urged to seek alternate routes.

ARLINGTON – This week’s bone-chilling weather is serving as a test-run for Super Bowl planners, who are working out the bugs in their plan to keep traffic moving Jan. 28-Feb. 6 even if the climate turns sour.

As luck would have it, dozens of Texas Department of Transportation employees from out of town were visiting North Texas on Sunday and Monday, as snow and ice blanketed the Metroplex. The employees were here to be trained for possible roles during Super Bowl week, when they might be needed to clear highways for several million Dallas-Fort Worth commuters and an estimated 250,000 Super Bowl fun-seekers. But thanks to Mother Nature, instead of getting simulated training, the workers went out on the roads and helped with actual ice removal.

“I thought it was pretty cool, that these out of town truck drivers in Dallas-Fort Worth got to do their training runs with real materials,” said Michael Morris, transportation director for the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

Snow fell in parts of Tarrant County for several hours Sunday but mostly didn’t stick, although an overnight light rain made highways slick for the Monday morning commute. Crews spread anti-icing and deicing material on numerous highways near Cowboys Stadium. Areas east and north of Arlington, where the Feb. 6 Super Bowl will be held, bore the brunt of the wintry mix – but wrecks also snarled traffic on Texas 360 between Interstates 20 and 30.

The forecast for the next few days is for dry air and bitter cold. On Tuesday, the remaining moisture on Metroplex roads is expected to melt away, and although the high temperature likely will struggle to remain above freezing, traffic is not expected to be worse than normal.

Weather experts say it’s too soon to predict the weather Feb. 6. But since the Super Bowl attracts events for more than a week prior to the game – including parties, broadcasts and charity events, many requiring attendees to travel dozens of miles – chances are at some point during Super Bowl week motorists will deal with a cold snap.

“Odds are we’ll have a cold front pass through North Texas sometime during that 10 days,” said Nick Hampshire, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Fort Worth. “It’s just a question of whether it will be cold enough for winter weather.”

The council of governments will hold training sessions for shuttle, taxi and limousine drivers during the next three weeks, Morris said. Wreckers will be staged throughout the region to quickly clear accidents, and traffic centers where highways are monitored by cameras will be open around the clock. “We’re assuming there’ll be a major event and we’ve planned for it,” Morris said. “We’re prepared for the light stuff, and the heavy stuff.”

In Fort Worth, more Texas Department of Transportation employees from out of town will be visiting on Tuesday. The agency is prepared to nearly double the number of maintenance employees who will be on duty in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, if it looks like weather will be a factor on roads, spokesman Val Lopez said. These workers are coming from several areas, including Amarillo, Austin, Bryan and Childress, Lopez said. They’ll be temporarily assigned to Fort Worth, where their responsibilities will include ensuring there’s enough anti-icing equipment and manpower on hand to keep traffic moving.

Lopez said the employees visiting Fort Worth “are coming into town to familiarize themselves with the area, where maintenance yards are located.” Up to 130 employees with commercial vehicle licenses will be available in the Fort Worth district during Super Bowl week – about double what’s normally available – to drive large trucks and handle other heavy machinery needed to keep the roads clear, he said.

The agency also has stockpiled deicing material at strategic points in Dallas-Fort Worth, so it can be easily accessed if icy patches form during Super Bowl week.

The National Football League doesn’t have any special concerns about North Texas officials’ ability to keep traffic moving, no matter the weather. “We have a specific plan in place for Super Bowl, and met extensively with local officials on the details months ago,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said in an e-mail. The Super Bowl is still too far out to predict what the weather will be like, although meteorologists could be able to make an educated guess 10 to 14 days in advance, Hampshire said. “Usually at the end of January and in early February, we’re still getting a cold front moving through at least every four or five days,” he said. “Winter weather is not out of the question.”